I'm using Poky 1.8 Fido, default configuration with the following added to local.conf:

INHERIT += "archiver"
ARCHIVER_MODE[src] = "patched"

Archiving linux-yocto in that configuration fails:

$ bitbake -c deploy_archives linux-yocto
Loading cache: 100% |#########################################################################| ETA:  00:00:00
Loaded 1286 entries from dependency cache.
NOTE: Resolving any missing task queue dependencies

Build Configuration:
BB_VERSION        = "1.26.0"
BUILD_SYS         = "x86_64-linux"
NATIVELSBSTRING   = "Debian-8.0"
TARGET_SYS        = "i586-poky-linux"
MACHINE           = "qemux86"
DISTRO            = "poky"
DISTRO_VERSION    = "1.8"
TUNE_FEATURES     = "m32 i586"
TARGET_FPU        = ""
meta              
meta-yocto        
meta-yocto-bsp    = "fido:58b038b7783b32aeb8ee138728b6d801dacd7da4"

NOTE: Preparing RunQueue
NOTE: Executing SetScene Tasks
NOTE: Executing RunQueue Tasks
ERROR: Function failed: do_patch (log file is located at /work/build/poky/tmp/work/qemux86-poky-linux/linux-yocto/3.19.2+gitAUTOINC+9e70b482d3_31b35da6a5-r0/temp/log.do_unpack_and_patch.19823)
ERROR: Logfile of failure stored in: /work/build/poky/tmp/work/qemux86-poky-linux/linux-yocto/3.19.2+gitAUTOINC+9e70b482d3_31b35da6a5-r0/temp/log.do_unpack_and_patch.19823
Log data follows:
| DEBUG: Executing python function do_unpack_and_patch
| DEBUG: Executing python function do_unpack
| DEBUG: Executing python function base_do_unpack
| DEBUG: Running export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="/tmp/ssh-WWbRxAatz9/agent.1276"; export PATH="/work/poky/scripts:/work/build/poky/tmp/sysroots/x86_64-linux/usr/bin/i586-poky-linux:/work/build/poky/tmp/sysroots/qemux86/usr/bin/crossscripts:/work/build/poky/tmp/sysroots/x86_64-linux/usr/sbin:/work/build/poky/tmp/sysroots/x86_64-linux/usr/bin:/work/build/poky/tmp/sysroots/x86_64-linux/sbin:/work/build/poky/tmp/sysroots/x86_64-linux/bin:/work/poky/scripts:/work/poky/bitbake/bin:/home/pohly/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games"; export HOME="/home/pohly"; git -c core.fsyncobjectfiles=0 clone -s -n --mirror /work/build/poky/downloads/git2/git.yoctoproject.org.linux-yocto-3.19.git/ /work/build/poky/tmp/work/qemux86-poky-linux/linux-yocto/3.19.2+gitAUTOINC+9e70b482d3_31b35da6a5-r0/archiver-work/git/
| DEBUG: Python function base_do_unpack finished
| DEBUG: Python function do_unpack finished
| DEBUG: Executing shell function do_kernel_checkout
| Switched to branch 'standard/common-pc'
| DEBUG: Shell function do_kernel_checkout finished
| DEBUG: Executing shell function do_validate_branches
| NOTE: Setting branch meta to 9e70b482d3773abf92c9c5850e134cbca1d5651f
| Branch standard/common-pc-orig set up to track remote branch standard/common-pc from origin.
| HEAD is now at 31b35da Merge tag 'v3.19.2' into standard/base
| DEBUG: Shell function do_validate_branches finished
| DEBUG: Executing shell function do_patch
| ls: cannot access .meta*: No such file or directory
| find: `.meta/cfg/scratch': No such file or directory
| ERROR. Could not locate meta series for qemux86
| WARNING: exit code 1 from a shell command.
| DEBUG: Python function do_unpack_and_patch finished
| ERROR: Function failed: do_patch (log file is located at /work/build/poky/tmp/work/qemux86-poky-linux/linux-yocto/3.19.2+gitAUTOINC+9e70b482d3_31b35da6a5-r0/temp/log.do_unpack_and_patch.19823)
ERROR: Task 6 (/work/poky/meta/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-yocto_3.19.bb, do_unpack_and_patch) failed with exit code '1'
NOTE: Tasks Summary: Attempted 21 tasks of which 7 didn't need to be rerun and 1 failed.
No currently running tasks (21 of 23)

Summary: 1 task failed:
  /work/poky/meta/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-yocto_3.19.bb, do_unpack_and_patch
Summary: There was 1 ERROR message shown, returning a non-zero exit code.